The Leaving

Avery’s father calls her with news from Chambers: The tip line got a call about a body. He knows no other information and tells her not to tell her mother yet. Avery thinks it may be Max. To distract herself, Avery goes for ice cream with Sam, but the conversation with him feels like a bad fit. She breaks up with Sam.

Scarlett feels comfortable sewing on Tamara’s sewing machine. She uses old fabric to practice on, inexplicably creating stitches in the shape of three rectangles. Chambers calls to say a body was found in the Everglades.

Avery texts Lucas, wanting to see him. They go to an amusement center for rides, go-karts, and bumper boats. He enjoys the normality of hanging out with a friend, though he suspects that Avery is interested in being more than friends.

Avery takes Lucas to play mini-golf after the amusement center. They chat about school and their bad luck at some of the holes. Avery tells Lucas that she broke up with Sam before she beats him at golf.

Scarlett and Kristen wait together for news about the body. Scarlett discusses the guard and his mention of her coat, which prompted her discovery about sewing. Kristen wonders what skill or talent she had, and mentions she was drawn to a blank journal and has been writing a lot.

Another girl, Vanessa, approaches Scarlett and claims they were best friends when they were five. Scarlett has no memory of Vanessa but chats easily with her for a few minutes. Back home, Tamara says they found the man responsible for The Leaving. Scarlett starts to think about how this man’s capture may be able to fulfill her missing memories, but Tamara says he is dead.

While Lucas goes alone to the Everglades house where John Norton’s body was found, each of the other abductees has at least one parent with them. Lucas has been thinking about Avery, who texted him a “good luck” note before he left. At the dock, Lucas is rude to Adam without knowing why. They take airboats to the remote house, where Chambers says photos and evidence of the five of them were found. When they arrive, however, none of them recognize the house.

Avery attends a thank-you ceremony for the volunteers who operated the tip line. Now that the body has been found and the location discovered, her father is shutting down the tip line. One volunteer mentions to Avery that calls are still coming in, saying “the crazy things” that “crazy” people say (294).

Chambers leads the group to a large room with framed photos on the wall. The photos showcase each abductee’s memory: one shows Scarlett’s hot-air balloon, one shows Sarah’s puppy, etc. Nothing else is familiar. When Scarlett points out that this location is far from Anchor Beach, Chambers insists the evidence is “overwhelming” and tells them that police also found syringes of a protein “involved in memory formation” (297). Scarlett points out that he knows nothing for sure and sees that her mother and the other abductees share her doubts. Kristen asks about an owl she saw while under hypnosis; Lucas asks about a camera.

Lucas and Scarlett agree that the house appears to be staged. Police show the group a mud-covered school bus and a white van back at the dock. Lucas asks Sarah about the house and girl she says she sees it in her imagination. Sarah says the house they toured is not the house she sees, but she is in the process of drawing what she saw. Chambers gets a message that they found a gun to test for prints. Lucas announces his prints will be on it.

The Leaving arrives in the mail and Avery reads it. The plot makes her suddenly question her life, and she struggles to find meaning in any of her memories. She begins to throw away awards, art projects, posters, and programs representing years of school. She cannot name everyone in an old class photo, which she finds very upsetting. She sees a countdown to college she made and realizes she cannot leave her home and parents. Finding and hugging Woof-Woof, she throws away the countdown.

Scarlett sees her mother cleaning and vacuuming; the alien abduction magazines are gone. Tamara weeps over the years she lost without Scarlett. She knows now it was not aliens. Scarlett says it was not John Norton either.

Lucas asks to see family photos, and he and Ryan look through them. Lucas is irritated; he still cannot remember details and memories from his childhood except for the few that have already surfaced. Miranda comes in and points out their old dog Walker in one of the photos. Ryan does not recall telling Miranda about the dog, but Miranda says he did. Lucas sees a photo of Avery and himself on a swing. Ryan says the swings were taken down because they were dangerous, and Lucas feels this “like a fist to the gut” (312).

Lucas visits Avery to tell her about the Everglades trip. He reports that the location seemed staged, and he expects his prints to be on the found gun as part of a set-up. Lucas tries to get Avery to produce her most vivid memory, but he rejects all her ideas until she angrily unleashes her memory of The Leaving. He calls her lucky, and she tells him to move on with his life. He says he must figure things out with Scarlett, and Avery says he should stop coming to see her.

Scarlett buys fabric at a sewing store, thinking she will create a new jacket. Outside, she notices a girl following her. She approaches the girl, who says she is Max’s sister.

Lucas visits Dr. Sashor, looking for answers about his relationships and his future. Dr. Sashor tries to remind him he has the rest of his life to make new memories, but Lucas says he has little sense of identity after the erasure of 11 years. Dr. Sashor acknowledges Lucas’s anger but offers no easy answers.

Avery explains to Scarlett that they used to know one another. She asks if Scarlett thinks Lucas would have shot a man, and Scarlett says he only would have committed a crime if it was to protect them. Avery asks about Scarlett’s relationship with Lucas, and Scarlett indicates they used to be a couple; Avery asks about now, but the scene does not reveal Scarlett’s answer.

Chambers brings Scarlett clothing and photos from the Everglades house. Scarlett wants to weep at the sight of herself as a young girl in the photos, which she does not recall. She wants the coat, but it must remain in evidence for now. After Chambers leaves, Tamara cries again over the lost years. Scarlett still is not certain that the mystery is solved. Kristen arrives and reveals that under hypnosis, she recalled Scarlett kissing Adam.

Lucas wants to finish Opus 6 with Ryan, including a large memorial stone his father left. Miranda questions why Lucas does not believe John Norton was the perpetrator, and Lucas says it is too unrealistic to think that one man successfully hid all the kids for so long. She calls him Luke and asks if his forgotten life might have been better than his missed life. Lucas gets irritated and tells her he doesn’t have to explain anything to her.

Scarlett arrives, greets Ryan, meets Miranda, and asks to talk to Lucas. Scarlett and Lucas walk to see the memorial stone behind the RV. Scarlett reveals to Lucas that Kristen said Scarlett kissed Adam. Scarlett suggests she wanted to end the romance with Lucas and that he did not; they decide they shouldn’t force the continuation of the relationship. Chambers arrives and arrests Lucas for murdering John Norton.

Avery hears about Lucas’s arrest on CNN. She finds her photo of herself, Max, and Lucas from a childhood Halloween, takes it to the grill, and burns it.